‘Hot, Shot and Bothered’ by Nora McFarland one to close out the summer with, tour dates

A great book to finish out the summer is the new page-turner by Nora McFarland, a follow up to her debut novel, A Bad Day’s Work (Touchstone, 2010), titled “Hot, Shot and Bothered.”

McFarland brings us an intriguing newcomer to the mystery world: a news videographer named Lilly Hawkins, based out of the small town of Bakersfield in California’s agricultural Central Valley.

Lilly is a sharp, talented and ambitious journalist in a small, compact body, but has generous size 10 feet.

Her work is in a male dominated field: She’s a camera operator, a craft heavily dominated by men, from TV to feature film, to this day.

Lilly gets caught up in a raging fire in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Instead of rushing to evacuate the people of Lake Elizabeth, Lilly drives headlong into the path of the fire.

As in any small community, there are secrets that lie hidden, some beneath the surface of the lake, some in the city politics. Lilly believes the fire may have been started as a distraction to cover up a local scandal involving a young woman Lilly knew years before. But can she prove the cover-up before getting trapped by the raging wildfire?

Nora McFarland has drawn on her own life experience as a reporter to create a realistic and rich work environment for Lilly with politics fuelled by diverse characters such as the assignment manager, an odd-ball Uncle, a couple of off-beat crew members plus an on-again-off-again romance between Lilly and Rod (a dashing local anchor).

Set in the whip-fast world of television news reporting – the second novel for Mcfarland rings true and keeps you guessing. Lilly Hawkins has her work cut out for her, and Nora McFarland makes sure she’s up to the task.